Davide Buccheri is accused of creating fake porn images of a colleague after she rejected his advances

Prosecutors say he first targeted the woman with “unwanted romantic advances” when she joined the firm as an intern in September last year.

City of London Magistrates’ Court heard she complained to M&G’s HR department, but the campaign escalated after she was offered a post-graduate role at the firm.

The court heard that between April 15 and 21 this year, fund manager Buccheri took images of the complainant from her social media accounts and downloaded pornographic images of women of similar build from the internet.

The pictures were allegedly edited and cropped to make them look like the alleged victim before being put in galleries on porn websites.

Prosecutors say the pictures were then revealed to the company’s HR department by Buccheri.

Buccheri appeared before magistrates today wearing glasses and dressed in a black suit, white shirt and pale blue tie.

He stood in the dock to confirm his name, date of birth, and address in Bologna, Italy.

Buccheri pleaded not guilty to a single charge of harassment between September 9 2016 and May 29 2017.

Sonya Foxsmith, prosecuting, said: “The complainant in this case at the relevant time was initially an intern with the company M&G.

“During this time she met Mr Buccheri who worked at the firm.

“He had made romantic advances toward her, which were rejected.

“The Crown’s case is that between 15th of April 2017 and the 21st of April 2017, Mr Buccheri uploaded a number of images of the complainant, and pornogaphic images of other females of similar build, which he had obtained from the internet.

“The point of this is that they were edited and cropped by Mr Buccheri to make them look like the complainant.

“Those images have now since been placed into galleries on the website where pornographic images are shown alongside genuine images of the complainant.

“These images, or these galleries as it were, were then revealed to the company’s HR department by Mr Buccheri by the whistleblowing procedure available.

“And the Crown say that Mr Buccheri’s actions and conduct all amounted to harassment of the complainant.

“Clearly it’s a very planned and sophisticated approach that caused her distress.”

Chair of the bench Julie Baldwin told Buccheri he faces a one-day trial on December 21 at the same court and released him on conditional bail.